Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 08:
Expressing concern over the quit notice served on the Tangkhuls in Nagaland by NSCN (K), the Kuki Movement for Human Rights however observed that when the UNC served quit notice on the Kukis at the behest of NSCN (IM) on October 22, 1992 and subsequently murdered 900 innocent Kukis including women and children besides uprooting 300 villages, not a single voice of condemnation or disapproval was raised then.
In an open letter addressed to the president of NSCN (K), KMHR noted that quit notice served to anybody is a direct violation of human rights and it therefore appealed to NSCN (K) to withdraw the notice to avoid any unwanted incident.
It also urged the UNC and its supporters including the NSCN (IM) to settle the destruction done to the Kukis following the quit notice served on them by UNC at the earliest.
Any settlement for the destruction committed by them must be according to the law of the Kuki Inpi, it asserted.
The Great Kuki Invasion and the Kuki Rebellion etc during the British colonial period are clear testimonies of the Kukis' unyielding fight to defend the so called 'Independent Hill country' comprising of the present day Northeastern India and Northwestern Burma, it said.
Late AZ Phizo was also thought of defending the same country as much as the Kukis did, it said and added that Kukis respected the movement while observing that the movement became a communal one with the birth of NSCN (IM) which was clearly demonstrated by the quit notice served on the Kukis and the subsequent carnage.
The human rights body noted that the demand for greater Nagalim raised by NSCN (IM) within the Indian Union is a clear act of giving away the 'Independent Hill country' to India.
The people of 'Independent Hill country' are not against any Government though strongly oppose to any attempt to uproot them from their ancestral land and their customary administration, KMHR said and maintained that for any meaningful peace in the region, these two indestructible tribal heritage namely their land and customary laws should not be disturbed or threatened.
As such, the fight within and without must be ceased and any possible cause of human rights violation must be negated, said the rights body.